Friday, January 8, 2016

President Barack Obama on Thursday criticized the National Rifle Association for repeatedly snubbing invitations to discuss gun policy at the White House.

Obama said the NRA should have attended the town hall-style meeting about guns instead of whipping up fears that he wants to take away firearms.

"I am happy to talk to them, but the conversation has to be based on facts and truth," Obama told CNN moderator Anderson Cooper during the event at George Mason University in Virginia. "Our position is consistently mischaracterized. And by the way, there's a reason why the NRA is not here. They're just down the street. This is the reason they exist. You'd think they'd be willing to have a debate with the president."

A 48-year-old Maysville man and his wife were in bed and ready for sleep on the first day of 2016 when authorities said a metal object tore through the ceiling and hit the wife in the shoulder.

The couple gathered the piece of metal and determined it was a slug fired from a shotgun, according to a Jackson County Sheriff’s report.

There are no leads on who fired the gun shortly after midnight, but it could be celebratory gunfire due to a New Year’s Day celebration, according to sheriff’s Capt. Rich Lott.

“She was not hurt bad,” Lott said. The responding deputy examined the red mark on the woman’s shoulder and he also examined the hole in the ceiling where the slug apparently tore through the roof and entered the bedroom. The slug, a large projectile fired from a shotgun, was gathered as evidence.

On New Year’s Day in 2010, a bullet apparently from celebratory fire went through a roof in a Decatur church and hit a 4-year-old boy in the head killing him, according to Atlanta media reports. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later released a statement that the bullet was likely fired from an AK-47.

A spokesman for Athens-Clarke police said a person caught firing guns in a celebratory fashion would likely be charged with reckless conduct.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Garen Wintemute estimatesthat as many as 40,000 straw sales were attempted annually, but he has no data on how many of those attempts actually result in a gun moving from an FFL’s inventory into illegal hands.

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a minute and pretend that all of those 40,000 attempted straw sales go through. Sounds like a lot of guns going into the wrong hands, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s a pittance compared to the way in which most guns in this country wind up in the wrong hands, and I don’t notice anyone talking about that issue at all.

Back in 1994, Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig published the most comprehensive survey on gun ownership that I have ever seen. Now if the Nobel Prize Committee decided to give an award for gun research, it would have to go to Phil Cook. He not only practically invented the entire field of gun violence research, but his work, then and now, is impeccable and should be accepted without question as the best of breed.

And what did he learn about how guns get into the wrong hands? He learned that perhaps as many as 600,000 guns were stolen every year, this at a time when the total number of guns owned by Americans was 50% less than it is now! Are you telling me that we can have a substantive conversation about reducing gun violence without asking how to prevent the theft of guns? Gun theft isn’t the elephant in the GVP living room, it’s the whole house.

It’s not that I’m opposed to gun ownership, or have become anti-gun; I just could not in good conscience be any part of an industry that refuses to take basic common-sense measures to address the problem we face today. Sadly, I’ve had to give up a few sports I truly enjoyed. But, in the end, if that makes any difference at all, it is worth it. It’s a sacrifice that I feel morally obligated to make. And, until we as a society can come together to pass common-sense gun legislation, it’s a sacrifice I’ll happily continue to make.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The White House is introducing a new requirement that would expand background checks for buyers. The measure mandates that individuals "in the business of selling firearms" register as licensed gun dealers, effectively narrowing the so-called "gun show loophole," which exempts most small sellers from keeping formal sales records.

Monday, January 4, 2016

A protest in support of Oregon ranchers facing jail time for arson was followed by an occupation of a building at a national wildlife refuge led by members of a family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government.

Ammon Bundy — the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights — told The Oregonian on Saturday that he and two of his brothers were among a group of dozens of people occupying the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Ammon Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page asking for militia members to come help him. He said "this is not a time to stand down. It's a time to stand up and come to Harney County," where Burns is located. Below the video is this statement: "(asterisk)(asterisk)ALL PATRIOTS ITS TIME TO STAND UP NOT STAND DOWN!!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! COME PREPARED."

Sunday, January 3, 2016

A man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home on New Year's Eve before his son wrestled the gun away and fatally shot him in a chain of events apparently set off by a dispute over a washing machine, authorities said Friday.

The two other victims killed were the son's 48-year-old girlfriend who also lives at the house in Rowland Heights and a 27-year-old man who was visiting, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

The 54-year-old father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection, and authorities had made dozens of previous trips to the home, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said.

According to the San Antonio Police Department, the shooting happened while the little girl sat in her family's car. They were apparently lost and were attempting to turn around in the 4600 block of Houston Street.

The family says they were in the area looking for a tire shop. They became lost and pulled into the parking lot of some townhomes to re-route a GPS device.

Investigators say the car's headlights were shining on another car, which appeared to annoy someone inside the vehicle, described as a gray 4-door Impala. A person inside the Impala got out, walked toward the family's car and fired nine shots.

One of the bullets traveled through the car's taillight and hit the 6-year-old girl in the back.